The metroBethesda Interact Club, made up of high school students from Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Walter Johnson, Walt Whitman, Jackson Reed, St. Andrew’s and Rochambeau high schools, is mentored by metroBethesda Rotary Club member Meg McKinney. Between 20 and 30 student members meet monthly to do service projects. The students are particularly focused on service projects related to food security and the environment.
The Interact students had a busy 2024-2025 year. In September 2024, the students helped rebuild the food pantry at B-CC High School using a grant from metroBethesda Rotary Foundation. Although B-CC is located in the center of Maryland’s affluent Montgomery County, 29% of the students there qualify for free or reduced price meals (FARMS), which means that nearly 700 students are food insecure. (To qualify for FARMS, a family of 4 has an income between $41,795 and $57,870.) The Interact students spent one Saturday removing the old shelves, assembling new shelving units, and, after thoroughly cleaning the pantry, installing the new shelving. Then the Interact students restocked and organized the shelves so the pantry was ready for the new school year. Now, the pantry is open three days per week during school hours and serves between 150 and 200 students per week who shop for food, toiletries, and clothing for their families. Many of these students are the primary cooks in their family and care for younger siblings while parents are at work. metroBethesda Interact did several other projects bringing food to B-CC families in need, including creating Thanksgiving and Valentine grocery bags for two separate events at one of B-CC’s feeder schools.
Building on their interest in food insecurity, the students contacted three local transitional houses for domestic violence survivors and unhoused people, and arranged to cook meals for the residents of the homes. On two occasions, the students cooked a full meal for the 8 residents of each house and one month they cooked four meals for the 8 residents in one house where the oven was broken. The students worked together to prepare the meals, which included a main dish, two sides and dessert, and deliver them to the facilities. The students also prepare food for Martha’s Table in Washington, DC some months, enjoying making dozens of sandwiches and bags of trail mix. Another project was making healthy snacks for BCC Cares, a PTSA initiative that strives to provide support to BCC students and families in need. The Interactors’ food preparation projects are usually followed with s’mores around a fire pit.
Interactors occasionally have other types of programs—for example, the students were enthusiastic about a stream clean up along Sligo Creek, and they staffed the table at MetroMoveFest. Also last year, Professor Elton Skendaj from Georgetown University (who is mBR’s president-elect in 2025-2026) led a program about how to have difficult conversations.
For the 2025-2026 school year, Meg and the Interactors are planning two stream clean-ups in partnership with metroBethesda Rotary Club, Thanksgiving grocery bags delivery and other food delivery projects for B-CC families, cooking for the transitional housing facilities, a clothing drive, and sandwiches for Martha’s Table.
Want to learn more? Follow mRB’s Interact Club on Instagram @interact.mbethesda